The end of the week

So many things.  First, my car decided gas was not important, causing me to come up with multiple ways to get to work thursday.  I got rides, so it all worked out, and I managed to rent a car thursday night after I deposited my check.  They gave us a free upgrade to a Toyota Highlander, which is badass!  lol  Too expensive for us anytime soon, but it’s a nice vehicle.  So, that night we went to Olive Garden and picked up a few things.  Carrie got her own Nintendo DS since we have so many games that we both want to play.

Thursday we got to visit the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, which is neat.  The water is so blue, I couldn’t get over it.  We got to watch two astronauts train a bit, though it’s hard to see much without being in the water.  It’s pretty neat to see the scale of the trusses for the station though.  You can only fit half within the length of the pool.  It’d be pretty neat to get in there some day.  This is motivation to get scuba certified. 

Friday we got to tour the crew support areas - suits, food, that sort of stuff.  It was interesting, but being quite tired it wasn’t quite as exciting as I wished.  But it was still worthwhile.  We also got to tour the other simulator areas, including the working toilet.  That was certainly interesting.

Friday we also got to meet our boss, the head of MOD.  That was pretty cool.  The most useful perhaps was realizing that other people view MOD as being arrogant because of how passionate we are about our jobs, and then how confident we can be.  I also learned that the various centers don’t really work together, due to the way the government set up NASA.  All important things to learn.  Plus, it’s good to know who your boss is!

Today I got the car towed to the mechanic.  They later told me the gas tank has to be replaced, and a new one is $600.   Total for everything I needed was around a grand.  I realized that  I would rather spend that money on a down payment for a new car, so I decided to look around.  I found a 2007 Corolla S for under 15 grand and decided to try for it.  And they gave me the loan!  So monday I’m getting my car towed to Carmax and giving it to them because I don’t have the ability to get rid of it any other way with short notice.  Then I get to take home a nice shiny car!  Yay!  I’m so happy.  I figure in a few months I’ll try to refinance the loan once I’m showing good payment history and cleaning up my credit at the same time.  I’m sure I’m getting screwed on the interest, but it’s just temporary.

I’ve also been on a quest for pants, which has failed.  It’s so hard to find decent fitting pants that are also somewhat cheap.  It doesn’t help that I’ve gained just enough weight that I’m in between sizes.  I need to get my ass in gear and start dropping it!

Oh, our other fun thing is a new keyboard!  It wasn’t very much money and it’s an easy thing to just play around with.  It’s cool because it’s helping Carrie open up to her hidden musical abilities.  We’ve both been feeling a draw to the piano for months now, so I felt it was time.
And now, it’s time for bed.  I’m sleeping like crap still, so I’m exhausted.  Plus, I don’t need to screw up my sleep schedule any more.

And one last thing.  In case it isn’t clear, I love my job!